Julie and Mark Down Under: July 2007

7/27/07

Shaking and Baking

Julie has just completed her second week of her culinary certification in Melbourne. The classes for this term are Pastries and Desserts, Eggs, Vegetables and Farinaceous, and Update Food and Beverage Knowledge. Her pastries still need work, but her Hell's Kitchen teacher will surely scream at her until perfection is achieved!!!

On the return route from Krabi to Australia, Julie was required to spend the day in Bangkok again to await a late evening flight back to Melbourne. She had a harrowing taxi ride (no seatbelt and in monsoonal weather) into the city to take a Thai cooking class at the Blue Elephant. The restaurant is world-renowned and has several locations across the Middle East and Europe. On the menu for the day was, Green Curry Chicken, Spicy Green Papaya Salad, Spicy Prawn Soup, and Pad Thai.

Let me tell you.....Those little Bird's Eye Green Chilies will get you. Crying and all, the feast afterwards was excellent!

7/26/07

Sawadeeka, Thailand!

Mark had to make a quick business trip up to Bangkok last week, so Julie was able to piggyback on the trip and visit Thailand for the first time. Spending one night in Bangkok and then flying down to Krabi, Julie got a great introduction to Thai society and Mark had a nice refresher.

Bangkok is famous for its odd, little markets. The goods range from real junk to kind of junky to pretty good stuff. This usually includes a ton of counterfeit material, but it should also be said that Thai silk is some of the best in the world. If you look hard enough, you can find some gorgeous stuff.

Here is a collection of the "junk", I mean, "treasures" that we found on our only night in Bangkok. Just skip this part if you are a man.

- A hot-off-the-press pair of Victoria Beckham Rock and Republic jeans for $12. The Thai woman working in the booth looked at Julie and said, "You need 31". In other words, you are a fatty!

- A Chloe Paddington knock-off handbag for $20. Really the only indication that the bag was to resemble a Chloe was the paper "Chloe" tag attached. Who cares?

- A silver, Tiffany chain complete with the little, blue bag for $15.

- Really random, big elephant pants. Don't ask. Julie gets pressured into buying things!

- Unfortunately we missed out on sampling the crickets!

Some pictures from the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Constructed in 1782, all of the Thai kings lived inside the walls up until the mid-1900's. The famous Emerald Buddha (it's actually made of jade) is inside the palace, and they actually change his costume based on the season. Really beautiful!

Krabi (meaning sword) is a province on the coastline of the Andaman Sea. The region is almost directly behind the island of Phuket. Several movies have benefited from the beauty of this area of Thailand including a James Bond film and The Beach with Leonard DiCaprio.

The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 did affect the area, but the only evidence of the catastrophe that we found were newly posted evacuation signs and some memorialized debris on some of the ancillary islands in the Krabi Province.

Thais are known for their superior level of customer service, but it was insane at the resort in Krabi. No water glass ever went empty, people arrived at your door so fast after you called for assistance that you could swear they had to be hiding in the bushes, and we received a friendly bow and a "Sawadeeka" upon each encounter with a staff member. Many U.S. hospitality-oriented businesses could learn a lot!

(L to R) 1. Yes, this gibbon we spotted on our sea kayaking trip is a male! 2. Julie holding a gypsy bone from the cave where we spotted the gibbons. 3. Sea Kayaking through a forest of mangrove trees. No crocodiles spotted here in years!!! 4. Mark at Hong Island, an island about 15 minutes away from our resort by long-tailed boat 5. Snorkeling on Hong Island. The little, yellow fish liked bread and biting Julie's legs. 6. Monitor Lizard seen on Hong Island. They can apparently count and self-reproduce and are related to the Komodo Dragon! 7. Wreckage of long-tailed boats that still remain on Hong Island after the Tsunami of 2004. 8. Our long-tailed boat that took us to 3 different islands. 9. Eating our last Thai meal in Krabi. Julie's favorite dishes from the trip were the Spicy Green Papaya Salad and Garlic and Peppercorn Soft Shell Crab. Mark loved to eat the "Asian" breakfast every morning which was usually fish and noodles.

7/18/07

Cash in You Yangs National Park

The You Yangs is an area similar to Stone Mountain but more peaceful. The park is between Geelong and Melbourne.

L to R: Cash taking a break on a rock in the You Yangs; Taking in the scenery; Finishing up his daddy's and mommy's dinners; Taking a nap from all of the activity during the day

7/10/07

First shot at making homemade pasta. Using a scale really is important when making pasta Julie found out all too painfully!!!

Fig and walnut tart that you may see in Julie's cafe one day :)

7/6/07

Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud

......Maori (indigenous Polynesian language) for New Zealand.

We have just returned from a ski holiday on New Zealand's South Island. Ski holiday might be a bit of a stretch since the Mt. Hutt ski area we had targeted has seen very little snow since the start of the season in early June. This is not to say that we did not have a magnificent time in NZ. The movie, Lord of the Rings, does not do this place justice.

For those of you unfamiliar with the country, here is a quick geography lesson: NZ is made up of two main islands, the North and South Island, and several ancillary islands. Auckland, the largest city, and the capital of NZ, Wellington, are both on the North Island while the "Southern Alps" and Christchurch are just across the strait on the South Island. Most outdoor activities and skiing are on the South Island, and we stayed in a town named Methven about an hour and a half outside of Christchurch.

Here are a few other facts that you might not have known: New Zealanders are referred to as "Kiwis" not because of the fruit but for the national bird, the Kiwi. Oh, and there are no snakes on the islands, so NZ is Julie's new favorite country! Sheep outnumber people, so shepherds still really do exist!

Here are a few highlights of the trip:

* Deciding to instead enjoy some "summer" activities on one day, we hired (that means rented here) horses from a nearby farm. No, Mark has not grown a beard, and no, that is not Kenny Rogers. That's Bruce, the horse guy. Julie's horse, Speedy Cavalier, was a bit of a horse's ass literally speaking. Halfway through the ride, he decided to kick Bruce's horse, Goliath, IN the ass. This created a bit of scare that Julie might end up on the ground, but all was well.

Mark's horse's name was Ernie and reminded him of his childhood horse, Star, who liked to shuffle the ground with her hoof to let you know she was ready to lie down in water with or without you. Luckily Ernie waited to take his roll until we were back at the stables.

* The snow did finally drop in buckets on the one day we made the drive up to Mt. Hutt. The ski area was much different than those we see in the U.S., as it is necessary to drive 14km up an unpaved, somewhat two-lane road with no guardrail. While scary the drive allows you to take in the beautiful mountains and countryside below (or at least the passenger can). Additionally, Mt. Hutt has no resorts or apres-ski activities. You are pretty much just offered a coffee bar and a lot of smoking Japanese skiers.

Mark is a great skier and was able to enjoy the few runs that were open. Julie fumbled down the green slope two times and, in her typical manner, made time for a coffee a rest. Skiing is stressful!

* You would think of "jet boating" as the activity of taking a fast boat ride across a flat lake. Exhilarating, yet probably a little boring after 15 minutes. The Kiwis' idea of a jet boat ride is a 32-km adventure up a whitewater gorge, and they will not be satisfied unless you have to shut your eyes out of fear at least twice. Mark was in fact a little embarrassed that Julie actually did close her eyes like her mom, Sue, in the passenger seat of car for a lot of the ride.

Imagine traveling along at 40-kmph feeling the rocks below you and with a driver who has no qualms about heading straight for a rock just to get a better jump on the rapid. That is a Kiwi's idea of jet boating, and here is a view from the front of the boat.

* After your heart is really pumping from the jet boat ride, they let you out for 5km walk back through the Rakaia Gorge. Lots of beautiful views of Mt. Hutt and the surrounding mountains, sheep, cows, and horses.

* The trip wasn't all pleasure. We had to get down to business and support our national Aussie Rugby team, the Wallabies, in the annual Rugby Tri-Nation Series between NZ, Australia, and South Africa.

The sport is absolutely huge in NZ but much larger in the eastern and northern parts of Australia than in the Melbourne area. The All Blacks, the name of the national NZ team, are world-renowned for their pre-game Maori dance, the haka. It is pretty intimidating, but of course our Aussie Wallabies are not girls. Even if a bit smaller, the Wallabies went on to win 20-15.

We were one of only two groups in the bar pulling for the Aussies, but our picked score in the pool almost allowed us to take all of their money. No luck, though.